When my mother finally found the real heiress, she was on her knees selling shoes on the street. And to my surprise, I recognized her—she was none other than my fiancé's first love. Determined to oust me, the fake heiress, she played her part well, putting on a daily show to make me look bad. I was content to play along, enjoying our little game, until my fiancé’s offhand remark, “Was that really necessary?" shattered my composure.

Fine, I thought, “You can keep this husband and family. I’ve got better things to do—like finding my real parents.”

I was helping my mom pick out shoes for an evening party when I first ran into Bella White.

From a distance, she noticed my mom’s elegant demeanor and immediately rushed over, shoving aside the young intern who had been serving us.

With a bright, eager smile, she pulled out a pair of shoes for my mom to try, but the moment her eyes met mine, the smile vanished.

Her hands tightened around the shoes, squeezing them out of shape.

In an instant, she plastered a flattering smile back on her face and turned her gaze to meet my mother’s eyes.

The two of them stared at each other for a long time, growing more and more astonished with every passing second.

Even the store employees began to join in on the hushed conversation around us.

It hit me like a bolt from the blue - Bella was the spitting image of my mother. The resemblance was so uncanny, it was as if they'd been cut from the same cloth. An onlooker might've sworn Bella was my mother's flesh and blood, while I could've passed for a stranger.

Bella’s face showed a mix of excitement and hesitation, and it was obvious she was weighing her options.

Suddenly, as if the scales had tipped in her mind, she swayed ever so slightly. Her willowy frame lent her an air of delicate vulnerability, like a flower bending in a gentle breeze. With a practiced grace, she dabbed at her brow, brushing away beads of sweat only she could see.

She barely managed to stand and swayed a little more before collapsing straight into my mother’s arms.

My mom quickly caught her and called the bodyguards to rush her to the hospital.

As they carried her to the car, Bella’s hand remained tightly gripping my mother’s sleeve. Noticing my gaze, she squeezed her eyes shut even more tightly.

At the hospital, my mom's voice was filled with anxiety.

"Doctor, how is she?"

The doctor handed over a report with a grave expression.

"Madam, she is indeed your daughter."

My mother’s hands trembled as she took the report, sliding down the wall to sit in a chair.

Her eyes remained vacant for a long time before they finally met mine.

I could tell that everyone in the room had already heard the news.

Bella had just stumbled into the role of heiress, and her little fainting act today hadn’t gone to waste.

An hour later, my father arrived at the hospital, determined to get to the bottom of things.

He quickly uncovered the truth: my mother had given birth to her child in this very hospital.

Who would have thought that such a prestigious private hospital could make such a mistake?

The hospital director, an old friend of my father's, was now bowing repeatedly, offering his apologies.

My mother was heartbroken at the thought of her biological daughter working as a sales clerk, kneeling on the floor to serve customers.

She leaned against my father, so distraught she couldn’t even lift her hand.

After regaining her composure for a while, she finally went into the room to see her real daughter.

Meanwhile, I stood outside the door and sent a message to my fiancé:

"Two pieces of news for you: the bad news is that your fiancée has been replaced. The good news? She’s your first love."

He replied instantly, "Stop talking nonsense."

My family and the Shaw family are among the wealthiest in Southridge. Our interests have been intertwined for years, and Percy Shaw's mother has always treated me as her future daughter-in-law.

Back in college, a few of us childhood friends formed a small, exclusive circle.

Once Bella discovered our group, she was determined to force her way in.

Every day, she’d wear her white dress and use every trick in the book to get the boys in our circle to pay attention to her. Whenever we arranged activities like racing or golf, she would find a way to join in.

Eventually, she managed to get a foothold in the group when one of the guys, a boy with a face full of acne, agreed to date her.

But as soon as she was in, she dumped him and set her sights on Percy.

Percy, who was always aloof and distant with everyone, became her new target.

After three years of relentless pursuit, all she got from Percy was a single word: “Impressive.”

From then on, everyone in our circle joked that Percy had found his “first love,” someone truly worthy of his admiration.

Next to her constant white dresses, my tank tops and jeans made me look like a complete tomboy.

By our senior year, Bella knew graduation was approaching fast, and if she didn’t win Percy over soon, that would be the end of their story.

Unsettled by how special Percy seemed to treat me, she began provoking me, trying to grab his attention.

She even stole my research results, attempting to publish a paper with Percy.

When our professor caught on, she retaliated by accusing my advisor of harassment.

Then, she spun a story that I had deliberately pushed her to the advisor to gain sympathy from the group, determined to leave her mark before graduation.

I couldn’t stand to see her get away with it, so I testified against her.

The school expelled her, putting an end to her ambitious climb.

Percy witnessed the whole ordeal and only remarked, "Was that really necessary? What a shame."

His comment annoyed me so much that I ignored him for half a year.

…

When I finally finished reminiscing and stepped into the hospital room, Bella was already sitting up.

She looked pale and frail like a gust of wind could knock her over, though her hands under the blanket gave her away, trembling with excitement.

She must have dreamed all her life of getting into our circle, never imagining she was born into it, while I was the one who had taken her place.

My mother stroked her hair, filled with pity, blaming herself for losing her daughter.

Then, seeing the cold look on my face, she seemed a bit embarrassed.

She quickly got up, came to my side, and held my hand to comfort me.

"It’s okay, we'll just consider her an older sister. I could never abandon you," she said.

Bella's look of hurt quickly twisted into one of spite, her eyes glaring at me with intensity. She hadn't expected that I, the impostor, would be so valued—that the return of the real heiress wouldn't mean I'd step aside.

It wasn't that I was desperate to hold onto this place, but the girl with the dark heart and the white dress had made too deep an impression on me. I couldn't bear the thought of her getting what she wanted.

Bella, desperate for sympathy, began to passionately recount the hardships and suffering she had endured all these years.

When Bella reached the most painful parts of her story, she was practically in tears.

My mother, upset, began to curse whoever had failed to take proper care of her daughter.

My father immediately ordered someone to investigate the actions of her adoptive parents.

Bella quickly stopped him. "There's no need for that, Dad. Now that I have you both, all that's left is for me to enjoy life."

After she was discharged from the hospital, Bella headed straight to the Scott family’s home, leaving her old life behind without even packing a bag.

Every day, she accompanied my mom on shopping trips and flower arranging, acting as if they had been together since birth.

My dad, who had initially worried about the bond with the child not raised by his side, felt relieved seeing how Bella worked to make his wife happy.

But Bella wanted more than just their approval.

She wanted to assert herself from a position of power and trample me underfoot.

Now that she was the true heiress, she couldn't stand that I was still enjoying the privileges of being part of the Scott family.

She set a new goal: to push me out of the family.

To prove that my biological parents had deliberately switched her, the real heiress, with me, she spread plenty of malicious gossip about them.

But I remembered that her parents were both university professors. I had once wondered how a child like her could come from such a background.

Even Percy, hearing about the things she had done, had been skeptical because of her parents' reputation.

Now, listening to her slander, I found it all the more repulsive.

…

That evening, after dinner, Bella sneaked into my room. She looked around, her eyes reddening at the sight of the luxurious decor.

She put on a pitiful expression and began her performance.

"Sister, I’ve been back for so long, taking over what used to be yours. Please, don't be upset. From now on, all the good things in this house will still be given to you first."

Seeing that I wasn’t taking the bait, Bella began throwing my things around.

A priceless antique vase hit the floor with a loud crash, and she let out a scream, shouting for me not to hurt her and that she’d leave right away.

Her shouting brought the household staff and my parents rushing into the room.

For a moment, everyone was too stunned to react.

My mom glanced between us, clearly conflicted, but she moved toward me first.

"Alice, are you okay?" she asked, then turned to Bella to check if she was hurt.

Realizing that her little performance hadn’t had the desired effect, Bella, unwilling to give up, held out her arm, which was somehow already bruised.

“Sister, it’s fine. I’m not hurt; it doesn’t matter,” she said with a falsely brave smile.

I rolled my eyes.

After all, I had been in this house for twenty years, and everyone here knew I wasn’t the type to stir up trouble.

Apart from occasionally teasing Percy, I couldn’t even be bothered to look at people I had no business with.

It was clear that my mom wasn’t interested in dealing with this drama any further, so she just offered Bella a few comforting words.

But after a week of this routine, Bella finally realized she couldn’t shake my place in this family.

Her antics escalated from tears and tantrums to threatening to harm herself.

She ended up in the emergency room in the middle of the night.

My mom, terrified, hadn’t even put on her shoes and was now sitting on a bench in the hospital, breathing heavily.

After all, this was her biological daughter.

"Alice, what’s going on? Ever since Bella came back, there hasn’t been a moment of peace in this house," she said, exasperated.

When the doctor finally came out, my mom rushed forward to ask about Bella’s condition.

The doctor, clearly hesitant to be too blunt, suggested that while consuming two sleeping pills wasn't a big deal, it would be best to keep her under observation for a bit.

My mom gave an awkward smile, understanding that this was her daughter’s way of protesting against her.

As a wealthy socialite, my mom usually spent most of her time indulging in her own vanity.

She hadn’t been overly concerned with me either—I was mostly raised by a nanny when I was a child.

So even with Bella was back, my mom treated us both with equal affection, like two parts of the same hand—each equally precious to her.

She figured raising one daughter was no different than raising two, completely unaware of the long-standing tension between us or how fiercely her biological daughter was fighting back.

Now she was stuck, unwilling to push either of us away, just hoping Bella would eventually come to her senses.

To smooth things over and officially establish Bella's status as the eldest daughter, the Scott family arranged a grand homecoming banquet for her.

The event was meant to announce to our social circle that Bella was now fully integrated into the family and had been given the name Bella Scott.

With this, Bella finally calmed down for a moment and eagerly set about inviting everyone to her celebration.

On the night of the banquet, I decided to stay out of the spotlight and chose a corner seat.

Bella, holding a wine glass with elegant poise, accompanied my mom around the room, toasting the guests, who were all too happy to compliment her on her refined demeanor as the true heiress.

Everything seemed harmonious, except for her outfit—an outdated, layered cake dress that didn’t quite match the occasion.

Many of her former friends and colleagues had come, eager to congratulate her on her sudden leap from sales clerk to heiress of a wealthy family.

Basking in the praise, Bella’s confidence soared as she led her chattering entourage around the estate.

Percy arrived fashionably late, having been held up by some business.

The moment he entered, all eyes turned to him as he made his way straight to my side.

As the heir to the Shaw family, his choice to sit beside me in a secluded corner made a statement about where his family's loyalties lay.

Noticing this, the other young heirs in the room began to shift their attention toward us.

The Shaw family was known for its secrecy, and getting close to them was usually a challenge.

With Percy here in person, they were eager to make an impression, even if it meant just exchanging a few words.

But he ignored every attempt to make conversation, instead leaning in close and turning his attention solely to me.